Gov. Charlie Crist says he wasn't aware of Jim Greer's financial freelancing, but he apparently received plenty of input from two of his closest political advisers about the party boss.

With Rep. J.C. Planas, R-Miami, retiring from the House because of term limits, a fight is shaping up to replace him with three candidates who have hit the ground running. Two Republicans and a Democrat sparring in the 115th House District have posted impressive -- even jaw-dropping -- fund-raising figures at the end of the first quarter of 2010.

The people of Florida haven’t been so mad at a British guy since English General James Oglethorpe launched a barrage of cannonballs at the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine in 1740.

Tony Hayward, the chairman of British Petroleum, is the current whipping boy, and the barrage is now going the other way and will continue this week as nearly every Florida politician running for office launches an attack on the company for the oil it has sent to the state’s money-making shoreline.

Despite his long friendship and political working relationship with Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux has made it clear he is staying within the Republican Party. LeMieux has ripped into President Barack Obama’s response to the spill in the Gulf and has backed GOP candidate Marco Rubio for the U.S.

Warily watching Florida's 770 miles of Gulf coastline -- as well as the political polls -- Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday asked BP America's president to send $50 million more to the state.

"Due to the extensive nature of (the Deepwater Horizon oil spill), Florida's state agencies and local governments have incurred significant costs associated with planning and preparing for potential impacts," Crist wrote to Lamar McKay.

Gov. Charlie Crist defended his hand-picked Republican Party of Florida chairman, even when the heat was on Jim Greer to resign.

Adding more drama to an already colorful election, Lawton “Bud” Chiles III, son of a Florida political legend who served three terms in the U.S. Senate and two terms as governor, announced Thursday he was leaving the Democratic Party and launching a gubernatorial campaign with no party affiliation.

With the budget out of the way – and a little more than $200 million lighter – Gov. Charlie Crist can return his attention to oil in the Gulf of Mexico, an abortion bill he still awaits from the House and his U.S. Senate campaign – though some might say the first two things are directly connected to the last.